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WEL Networks

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WEL Networks
IndustryElectricity distribution
Headquarters
Hamilton, New Zealand
Key people
Garth Dibley, CEO (since Sep 2014)[1]
OwnerWEL Energy Trust
Websitewww.wel.co.nz

WEL Networks Limited is an electricity distribution company, serving the northern and central Waikato region of New Zealand.[2] WEL is the sixth largest electricity distribution company in New Zealand, with 100,142 connections and 7,021 km (4,363 mi) of lines and underground cables. The company is 100% owned by the WEL Energy Trust.[3]: 25 

History

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WEL was formed when legislation in 1988 amalgamated the Central Waikato Electric Power Board with Hamilton City Council's Electricity Division from 1989 to form Waikato Electricity Limited. After amalgamation, ownership of WEL was vested in the Waikato Electricity Authority (WEA). WEA formed WEL Energy Trust in 1993, with the first election in June, so that the community could have some ownership of WEL. In 1992 a third of WEL was sold to Utilicorp for almost $40m, a third retained for the Trust and a third given to customers. The Electricity Industry Reform Act 1998 forced WEL to sell its retail business. It sold to the State owned (but later bought as NGC by Vector Limited) Natural Gas Corporation for $89.9m. The Trust then bought back all WEL's shares to become its sole owner. In 2001 WEL was renamed WEL Networks Ltd.

After the Trust's 2003 elections it reduced grants given to community groups and started paying discounts to customers.[4] By 2014 the Trust had paid over $240 million to customers in discounts, but had also invested over $60 million in community and energy efficiency grants. In 2014–15, over $2m was paid in grants.[5]

WEL Networks formed a joint venture in 2010 with Waipā Networks and Crown Fibre Holdings to establish Ultra-fast Fibre Limited, a company that owns and operates the fibre network in Hamilton, New Plymouth, Tauranga, and Whanganui.[6] In 2016, WEL and Waipā Networks paid $189 million to take 100% control of the Ultra-Fast Fibre company.[7] In 2020, WEL and Waipā Networks sold their interest in Ultra-fast Fibre to Japanese-owned First State Investments for $854 million.[8]

In 2022, the company announced the construction of New Zealand's first utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS), to be located at Huntly. The system is rated at 35 MW, and is capable of storing energy equivalent to the daily demand of over 2000 homes.[9]

Distribution network

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WEL's distribution area covers the Hamilton City and the majority of the Waikato District, including the towns of Ngāruawāhia, Huntly, Te Kauwhata and Raglan. The distribution network is supplied from the national grid at three grid exit points (GXPs): Hamilton (Ruakura Road), Te Kowhai, and Huntly. WEL Networks uses 33,000 volts for subtransmission and 11,000 volts for distribution.[10]: 30–31  As is standard in New Zealand, electricity is delivered to homes at 230/400 volts (phase-to-neutral/phase-to-phase).

Statistics

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WEL Networks - statistics as at 31 March 2021[11]
Parameter Value
Distribution and LV overhead lines 2,895 km
Distribution and LV underground cables 2,182 km
Subtransmission lines and cables 446 km
Customer connections 95,226
System maximum demand 280 MW
System energy delivered 1,283 GWh
SAIDI (average outage duration) 86 min
SAIFI (average outage frequency) 1.03 p.a.

Regulation

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As a natural monopoly electricity lines business, WEL Networks is subject to regulation under the Commerce Act 1986. However, as WEL Networks is 100% owned by a consumer trust, it is not subject to price-quality regulation,[12] but is subject to Information Disclosure regulation. The Commerce Commission publishes a wide range of Information Disclosure data provided by WEL Networks, and prepares analysis and summaries of that data.[13]

Generation assets

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Te Uku Wind Farm

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Main article: Te Uku Wind Farm

Te Uku Wind Farm is located at Te Uku near Raglan. It has a capacity of 64 MW[14][15] using 28 wind turbines. Construction was completed in March 2011,[16] at a cost of $200 million.[17] The farm covers an area of approximately 200 hectares (2.0 km2).[18] The wind farm is jointly owned by WEL Networks and Meridian Energy.[19]

Resource consent was granted in May 2008[20] and appeals were resolved by November 2008. Construction of the wind farm began in 2010.[21] Hick Bros Civil and Spartan Construction won an award for outstanding technical and environmental planning.[22] The wind farm was officially opened by Prime Minister John Key in February 2011.[23] Te Uku was fully operational on 10 March 2011.[24]

Te Uku Windfarm is controlled from Wellington where Meridian has its control centre for running all of their New Zealand Hydro and Wind generation assets.

The windfarm is linked to the national grid at Te Kowhai substation by about 17 km (11 mi) of 33 kV lines on 159[25] steel poles built on concrete pile foundations[26] and an underground cable from just west of Waitetuna Valley Rd to Cogswell Rd,[27] a total of about 25 km (16 mi).[28][29][30]

Incidents

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On a particularly cold winter night in August 2021, the National Grid operator Transpower, gave an emergency instruction to WEL Networks to reduce its demand from the grid by 20%. This resulted in power cuts for around 18,000 WEL Networks customers. The demand restrictions required of WEL Networks were significantly greater than for other networks.[31] Transpower subsequently admitted an error in their calculation of the required demand reduction. WEL Networks estimated that they would only have been required to disconnect 1,373 customers (instead of almost 18,000), if the error had not been made.[32] Transpower and was eventually fined $150,000 for their part in contributing to the loss of supply to customers.[33]

Subsidiaries

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  • Infratec Limited [34]

References

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  1. ^ "Double leadership change for WEL Networks". Stuff. 9 June 2014. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  2. ^ "About WEL". WEL Networks. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  3. ^ "Annual Report of WEL Group" (PDF). 27 June 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 July 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  4. ^ Chris, Gilson. Wiring up the Waikato. WEL Networks.
  5. ^ "WEL Energy Trust - About the Trust". www.welenergytrust.co.nz. Archived from the original on 7 November 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  6. ^ "Who builds the UFB network". Crown Infrastructure Partners. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  7. ^ Boot, Sophie (7 September 2016). "Waikato Networks buys out Crown's holding in Ultra-fast Fibre for $189m". NBR. Archived from the original on 26 May 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  8. ^ Evans, Gavin (12 May 2020). "WEL, Waipa sell fibre business to overseas investor for $854m". The Herald. Archived from the original on 22 January 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Electrifying: Huntly receives battery energy storage system". NZ Herald. 30 March 2022. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Asset Management Plan 2023" (PDF). WEL Networks. 28 March 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Performance summaries for electricity distributors - Year to 31 March 2021 - WEL Networks" (PDF). Commerce Commission. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Consumer owned electricity distribution businesses". Commerce Commission. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  13. ^ "Performance summaries for electricity distributors". Commerce Commission. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  14. ^ "Project Te Uku". Meridian Energy. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  15. ^ "Introduction and fact sheet". WEL Networks. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2008.
  16. ^ "Gala Day Celebrates Completion Of Te Uku Wind Farm" (Press release). Meridian Energy. 23 March 2011. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  17. ^ Bradley, Grant (16 October 2009). "Meridian Energy to build 64 megawatt Raglan wind farm". NZ Herald. Archived from the original on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  18. ^ "WEL wind park resource consent application" (PDF). WEL Networks Ltd. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
  19. ^ "Wind Park Update" (PDF). WEL Networks Ltd. 17 September 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2008.
  20. ^ "Wind farm bid a winner". Waikato Times. 30 May 2008. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2008 – via Mercury Energy.
  21. ^ "First turbine goes up at Te Uku wind farm" (Press release). Meridian Energy. 3 November 2010. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  22. ^ "Hick Bros & Spartan pick up prize for building Te Uku Wind Farm". Raglan 23. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  23. ^ Holloway, Bruce (10 February 2011). "PM blown away by wind farm". Stuff. Archived from the original on 13 February 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  24. ^ "Construction of Te Uku wind farm complete" (Press release). Meridian Energy. 31 March 2011. Archived from the original on 5 April 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  25. ^ "Raglan Chronicle". Issuu. 30 July 2010. Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  26. ^ "Wind Farm Electricity Generation: Edison". www.edison.co.nz. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  27. ^ "WEL Networks western upgrade". Raglan 23. Archived from the original on 13 February 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  28. ^ "John key opens Te Uku Wind Farm". Raglan 23. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  29. ^ "Raglan wind farm wins top award". Waikato Times. 19 August 2011. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  30. ^ "Wel's windfarm critic has plenty of hits at hearing". Waikato Times. 29 February 2008. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  31. ^ Feek, Belinda (12 August 2021). "Power outages: 'Transpower asked us to reduce load by 20 per cent', WEL Networks speaks out". NZ Herald. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  32. ^ Pullar-Strecker, Tom (11 August 2021). "Heat goes on Transpower after Wel Networks reveals grid operator made huge error". Stuff. Archived from the original on 27 April 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  33. ^ "Transpower fined $150,000 for 2021 mid-winter blackouts". RNZ. 8 May 2023. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  34. ^ "WEL Networks purchases Infratec". NZX. 24 November 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
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